A Washington non-profit is dedicated to rescuing cats from trees or roofs when felines find themselves stuck.
When a cat gets stuck high in a tree, there’s an old assumption about who you call for help.
However, that call might instead go to Canopy Cat Rescue in Washington state. It's a nonprofit founded in 2009 by Shaun Sears and Tom Otto.
“It’s usually not the fire department, as most people still think,” Sears said.
The two experienced climbers created the organization after discovering how difficult it could be for people to find someone willing and able to rescue a cat stranded high above the ground.
Sears and Otto have now rescued more than 8,000 cats, with Sears accounting for more than 5,000 of those rescues.
Their work requires more than knowing how to navigate a towering tree safely.
Shawn Sears with Canopy Cat Rescue begins climbing a tree. (KOMO)“We listen to every little thing that the cat’s trying to tell you - whether it’s the ears, the pupils in the eyes, the tail, the meows - all of those things tell us exactly how the rescue is going to go,” Sears said.
The organization travels across Washington to help stranded cats, offering its services free of charge and relying on donations to fund its work. Sears said, "Tom and I didn’t want to profit off of somebody’s misfortune.”
The duo covers western Washington, but work with two volunteers in Leavenworth who cover the area east of the Cascade Mountains.
One recent call took Sears to Federal Way, where Pookie had been stranded on the roof of a three-story apartment building for four days.
Reaching her meant climbing a nearby tree and making his way onto the roof. Before beginning the climb, Sears studied Pookie’s behavior and planned his approach.
“She seems to be pretty friendly, so if all goes well, I’ll go on up there, I’ll put her in a special sack or my net, come down, and I’ll have the kids bring her back inside,” Sears said.
Once Sears reached the roof, however, Pookie wasn’t immediately interested in going anywhere. Sears gave her time to become comfortable with him before eventually getting close enough to pick her up and place her inside his rescue sack.
A cat that got onto a roof but couldn't get down. (KOMO)“She was pretty nervous, but ultimately, she let me pick her up and put her safely in the special sack, and now we’ll hand her back to the cat owner,” Sears said.
After four days away, Pookie was finally reunited with her family.
For Sears, those reunions are what make the difficult climbs worthwhile.
“My favorite part is when we get to get on up to the cat, pick it up and have that, you know, a few moments when you’re actually holding the cat in your lap, and you feel the sense of relief from the cat at that point,” Sears said. “You also feel it from the cat owners on the ground because, you know, their ultimate relief comes when they get the cat back.”
